Coming off a bye, Mississippi State will have fresh legs when facing Tennessee football. Here are five MSU Bulldogs to watch for against the UT Volunteers.
With a 3-2 record, the Mississippi State Bulldogs head into Knoxville Saturday after a bye week to face a 1-4 Tennessee football team that hasn’t yet beaten an FBS program. Even if it is a noon game, this should be an easy win.
But MSU is only a touchdown favorite. Their last outing was a 56-23 loss to the Auburn Tigers, which was their first road game of the year, and that was two weeks after a home loss to the Kansas State Wildcats.
So there are numerous questions about this team that still exist in Joe Moorhead’s second season. Sure, they are more used to his system, but they had to replace a ton of talent from last year. And that makes them inconsistent.
These are all things Tennessee football will be looking to capitalize on, particularly against that defense, which is led by former UT defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. If they are going to capitalize, though, the Vols need to watch out for some key players.
Mississippi State, when winning, does it with a dominant rushing attack and a defense that forces lots of turnovers. As a team that has struggled to stop the run and take care of the ball, that’s dangerous for the Vols.
What’s really hard is the fact that MSU doesn’t have one player that forces lots of turnovers. They have had 12 different players force 14 turnovers on the year, which is an incredible stat. So on that side of the ball, Jim Chaney and Jeremy Pruitt need to make sure the offense is ready from playmakers at all angles.
Defensively, things are a bit more clear, but they are no easier because of that. Simply put, if the guys on Rocky Top finally want to orchestrate a turnaround for the season, they’ve got to figure out how to do what they haven’t done all year.
Taking all this into account, who do they need to watch out for. Which players are most crucial for the Vols to neutralize if they want to win a noon game? Find out here. These are the five Mississippi State Bulldogs to watch for when they face Tennessee football Saturday.